Railway car side door operating gear



March 31, 1959 T. c. SQDDY 7 RAILWAY CAR s10: DOOR OPERATING GEAR FiledFeb. 29, 1956 2 Sheet s-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. ziw 2% W my.

March 31, 1959 T. c. SODDY RAILWAY CAR SIDE DOOR OPERATING GEAR 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 29; 1956 INVENTOR. m/ 6?. J

United States Patent 2,879,558 RAILWAY CAR SIDE DOOR OPERATING GEARThomas C. Soddy, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Chicago Railway EquipmentCompany, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application February29, 1956,.Serial No. 568,487 7 Claims. (CI. 20-23) The invention relatesto railway car door mounting and locking structure and is particularlyadapted for a refrigerator car and door assembly in which the door is ofsubstantial thickness and the outer face of the door is flush with theface of the car side wall when the door is closed.

One object of the invention is to adapt a door structure for a dooropening which is longer than is customary without unduly increasing thesize and weight of an individual door used to close the opening.

Another object is to facilitate the opening and closing movements of thedoor by affording the operator a high ratio leverage for effectinginitial opening and closing movements of the door.

Another object is to avoid the undue projection of an operating handleoutwardly from the door and the hazard of injury to the operator becauseof such projection.

Another object is to simplify and lower the cost of car door operatingmechanisms of the general type involved.

These and other detailed objects of the invention are attained by thestructure illustrated in the accompanying drawings, illustrating aselected embodiment of the invention, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a door structure and the associatedmounting and car side wall.

Figure 2 is a horizontal section on line 2--2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a similar section illustrating the initial opening movementof the door.

Figure 4 is avdetail section on the same section but illustratingfurther opening movement of the door.

Figure 5 is a section similar to Figure 3 showing the front edge of thedoor moved fully out of the door opening in the car side wall. Thisfigure also shows the door near the end of a closing movement and aboutto be swung into the door opening.

.Figure 6 is. a vertical transverse section through the door and carside on the line 6 -6 of Figure 1 but drawn to a smaller scale.

Figure 7 is a top view and section of a lock taken on line 7-7 of Figure1.

Figure 8 is a side view of the lock.

The car side construction includes a sill channel 1 provided with athreshold reinforcing angle 3, there being an upper side plate 5. Thecar wall has a door opening 6 bounded by a front post 7 and a rear post9. A narrow door 11, approximately two feet wide, is hinged at 13 tofront door post 7 and is provided with ,a locking shaft 15 having offsetcrank pins 17 engageable in retaining cam-like brackets 19 on the carside and thrusting the door outwardly and inwardly when the lockingshaft is rotated by a handle 21 as is a common expedient. With handle 21lodged in a retaining bracket 23, the hinged door is locked in closedposition.

Alongside the remainder of the door opening and below the level of thethreshold is a track 25 mounted on brackets 27 carried by the side sill.A front carriage 29 and a rear carriage 30 are mounted on individualrollers 33 which travel along track 25 and are movable relative to eachother lengthwise of the track.

A relatively wide door 31 mounted on carriages 29,, 30 by means ofupright trunnions 35, 36 journaled on the door and having crank arms 37,38 respectively provided with depending trunnions 39, 40 respectively attheir outer ends journaled in carriages 29, 30 respectively. Similarcranks 43, 44 are mounted on the upper portion of the door and areassociated with a corresponding upper track 47 provided with slidingguides 49, 50. Preferably cranks 38 and 44 are interconnected by a shaft53 and rotate as a unit. Fixed on shaft 53 is a pinion 55 which is inmesh with a worm 57 fixed to the hub 58 of a hand wheel 59 journaled onthe door and rotatable about a horizontal axis perpendicular to thedoor. Wheel 59 lies in a plane parallel to and closely adjacent to thedoor. By rotation of wheel 59 the operator can apply a large leverage tocrank arms 38, 44 to move the rear end of door 31 transversely of thecar side. Cranks 37, 43 are free to swing about the vertical axes of thetrunnions at their opposite ends irrespective of the movement of crankarms 38, 44.

Assuming the doors to be closed as shown in Figures 1 and 2, wheel 59 isrotated anticlockwise to rotate crank arms 38, 44 anticlockwise abouttheir inner trunnions, thus shifting the door to the position shown inFigure 3, with the rear edge of the door clearing the opposing edge ofthe door opening in the car side wall. The operator then grasps grabiron 61 and pulls the door to the right, the inner face of the doorbearing against rollers 63 having a vertical axis and mounted on theadjacent portion of the car side. As the door is opened, successiveparts of the door are thrust outwardly by rollers 63 and crank 37 pivotsfreely on its trunnions 35, 39 and the door assumes the position shownin Figure 5.

To close the door the operator will take hold of grab iron 65 and pullthe door to the left. As the door again reaches the position shown inFigure 5 2. lug 67 on crank 37 extending outboard of its trunnion 39will engage a projection 69 fixed on the car side and interrupt themovement of carriage 29 along track 25 and cause the arm to swing aboutits trunnion 39 to move the forward edge of the door inwardly of theopening in the car side. The operator then rotates wheel 59 clockwise,turning crank arm 38 on its trunnion 40 to move the rear edge of thedoor into the closed position shown in Figure 2. The high ratio betweenworm 57 and pinion 55 will hold cranks 37, 38, 43, 44 againstunintentional reverse rotation to open the door, but a lock and sealingdevice 71 for wheel 59 will be mounted on the door.

It will be understood that doors 11 and 31 may be opened and closedindependently of each other, thus providing for entry of an inspector orWorkman to the interior of the car through the small door withoutopening the main door, and facilitating loading of the car with lifttrucks by opening both doors if the maximum width of opening isdesirable.

The mechanical advantage developed by the worm and gear mechanismexceeds that obtainable by the usual operating crank shaft arrangementused on similar car doors and its application to the rear edge of thedoor only and the swinging of the door about the mounting of its forwardcarriage 29 as a pivot facilitates the cracking of the door jointthroughout its length more readily than if both edges of the door wereshifted outwardly simultaneous to the car side during the initial actionof the operating mechanism. This feature will be of substantialadvantage at all times and particularly in freezing weather.

The crank shaft may be secured against shifting, particularly when thedoors are closed, by the device 71 detailed in Figures 7 and 8 andcomprising a bracket "tatably mounted on {member for rotating the wormupright shaft crank.

73, fixed on the door, and a latch 75 pivoted to the bracket and movablefrom a projected position, shown in full lines, in which it embraces oneof the operating wheel arms. A bar 77 pivoted to one side of the latchmay have its swinging end secured to the other side of the latch by anordinary car seal 79 to prevent accidental disengagement of the latchand to warn against unauthorized tampering with the latch.

' The details of the structure may be varied without departing from thespirit of the invention and the exclusive use of those modificationscoming within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a railway car side door, an operating gearcomprising an upright shaft rotatably mounted on the door near one edgethereof and provided with a crank having a trunnion at its outer endparalleling the upright shaft axis, a wheeled carriage journaling thetrunnion for mounting the door upon a track, a gear pinion on theupright shaft, a worm engaging "said pinion and rotatable about a fixedaxis perpendicular to the door, and manually operative means forrotating said worm, said means being operable in a directionsubstantially parallel to the plane of the door.

2. In combination with a railway car side door, an operating geartherefor comprising an upright shaft rothe door near one edge thereofand provided with a crank having a trunnion at its outer end parallelingthe upright shaft axis, a wheeled carriage journaling the trunnion formounting the door upon a track, a worm rotatable about a horizontal axisperpendicular to the door, a gear pinion on said upright and a manuallyoperable to shift the door on said shaft in mesh withsaid worm,

3. In a railway refrigerator type car having a side wall with a dooropening, a narrow door hinged to one end 'of the opening and having aninwardly inclined swinging edge and provided with a cam and latch forlocking the swinging edge of the door to the side wall,

'a'relatively wide door having an inwardly inclined edge overlying theopposite end of the door opening and having an outwardly inclined edgeunderlying the swinging edge of the narrow door, both doors, whenclosed, being flush with the side wall, a track alongside the side walland spaced therefrom, a carriage movable along the track, an uprightshaft journaled on the wide door near the second-mentioned end of thedoor opening, said shaft having a crank with a trunnion at its outer endjournaled in the carriage, a manually operable worm mounted on the doornear said shaft and geared thereto and normally holding the shaftagainst rotation but providing means for rotating it manually to swingthe corresponding edge of the door away from the wall, a similar crankshaft and carriage assembly at the other end of the door free to pivoton the door and carriage.

4. In combination with a car side wall having a door opening with anoutwardly inclined edge at one end, a door receivable within saidopening with a correspondingly inwardly inclined edge, a track alongsidethe car wall and spaced therefrom, front and rear carriages movablealong said track near the corresponding ends of the door, uprightmembers journaled on the outer side of the door near its front and rearedges, crank arms on said members, eachhaving an upright trunnion at itsouter end journaled on an individual carriage, a manually operable parthaving a horizontal pivot mounting on said door and having a worm andgear operating connection to the member near the rear edge of the door,and a roller mounted on the side wall near said outwardly inclined edgewith its axis vertical and opposing the inner face of the door when thedoor is moved along said track.

5. A railway car side, door and operating gear combination according toclaim 3 in which the crankshaft at the forward end of the door has anarm with a lug extending beyond its trunnion mounting on the frontcarriage, there being a projection on the car wall adjacent to the trackand remote from said edge and adapted to engage said lug, as the frontcarriage moves toward door closed position, and thereby rotate the crankabout its trunnion mounting and move the front end of the door inwardlyof the wall opening.

6. A holding structure for securing a railway car sliding door to a carwall provided with an opening and tracks above and below the same and aguide slidable on the upper track and a carriage mounted on the lowertrack, said structurecomprising an upright shaft journaled on the doorwith upper and lower crank arms having vertical axis pivots at theirouter ends to said guide and carriage respectively, a worm pinioncoaxial with the upright shaft, a worm meshed with said pinion with itsaxis extending substantially normal to the general plane of the door,said worm being journaled on the door, and means for manualy rotatingthe worm.

7. A holding structure for a railway car door according to claim 6 inwhich the means for manually rotating the worm comprises a rotatablewheel extending substantially parallel to the general plane of the doorand operatively connected to the worm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS WrightNov. 6, 1956

